Pool committee open house for Vanderhoof postponed

The District of Vanderhoof Pool Committee open house scheduled for February 22 for Vanderhoof has been postponed to an unspecified date.

The meeting, which was to be in a series of community open houses was intended to update the public and get comment on the costs of planning and building an aquatic centre to serve the Bulkley Nechako regional district.

Pool committee chair, and Vanderhoof district councillor, Steve Little said they hoped to get some numbers out to the public to gauge opinion and collect suggestion before the issue goes to a referendum.

“It had been postponed before already,” he told council at the district’s February 13 regular meeting, “and the timeline is getting tighter.”

District officials suggested they had a lot on their plate this week and there may not be enough time for them to look at the pool report in detail before having to engage the community at the Vanderhoof open house, so they agreed to postpone it.

“We need to have a better look at the (tax) rates, and so forth before answering questions about it,” councillor Ken Young said, “people are pretty sensitive right now about their (property) assessments that just came out.”

Mayor Gerry Thiessen echoed the sentiments of both councillors noting,

“People are asking where is the pool? But we need our own questions answered by the (pool) committee before we go to the public,” Thiessen said.